Mandy's Musings

Thursday, 21 July 2016

Lynda Stacey tells all about her debut - House of Secrets!

Today I am chatting to Lynda Stacey about her debut released this week - House of Secrets. Great to have you
here, Lynda! Make yourself comfortable and can I interest you in a
Cornish Cream Tea?

Cream Tea?? Now
you’re talking, of course you can.

The blurb for
The House of Secrets is very intriguing. Can you tell me who
discovers the main secret, or will that give the game away?

The secrets are
hidden within a diary that’s found by Madeleine and the hero of the story
Bandit. The diary belonged to the former owner of the house. The diary of Emily
Ennis begins when she’s just a young lady, and takes you through her life,
during which you find out the secrets that have been hidden for many years.

Ooh, sounds intriguing! Can I ask who is your
favourite character and why?

My favourite
character, Wow, that’s a hard question. I love them all. But, if I had to
choose one, it would have to be Nomsa. She’s a lovely, happy-go-lucky Caribbean
lady, with a huge personality. She works at the hotel and becomes a mother
figure to Madeleine. She’s certainly someone I’d love to sit at the kitchen
table with, drinking gallons of tea.

Talking of which…. Do
pass a scone..!

Of course, more cream too? Now, which character do
you like least and why?

But they do say that
children are intuitive and Poppy is terrified for a reason. She’s managed to
work Liam out very quickly and he knows it.

I see. Not sure I like the sound of him either. So which scene did
you enjoy writing the most and which did you find the most difficult?

Gosh… I don’t think
any of them were easy. It’s like asking me to climb Everest and then asking
which step hurt the least lol.

If I really had to
choose. I’d say that the most enjoyable, would probably be the one where
Madeleine first see’s Wrea Head Hall.

It brought back all
the feelings I had when I went to Wrea Head Hall for the very first time. My
husband took me for my birthday, which is Christmas week. I remember driving
towards it and seeing it towering up before me, gargoyles and all. I loved the
way the amber lighting, along with the huge twenty foot Christmas tree shone
back at me through the grand window and the way the log fires brought a feeling
on ambience to each room. I remember the first moment I walked in through the
huge, gothic, arched front door, I could feel the history seeping out of the
walls. It was as thought the ghosts of the past were still there, but in a nice
way and I knew right then that the house needed a great story.

The most difficult
scene. That’s an easy one to answer, but I can’t. It would give away the story.
But, I will reveal that I was sat one night, tapping away on my lap top, writing
this scene, I almost threw it off of my knee. My husband looked at me in shock
and asked what was wrong, and all I could say was, “I have no idea where all
that came from, but if I don’t stop writing that scene now, I’ll give myself
nightmares.”

Oh, I felt a shiver then... More tea? Okay, you have a dual
time-frame in your novel. Which time period would you most like to live in,
the present or the past?

I’d just like to live
in a time when everyone got along. There’s so much hate in the world right now,
it’s awful and to be honest. I don’t get it. There’s absolutely no need for it,
everyone should be nice to one another. In my mind, it really wouldn’t and
shouldn’t be that difficult.

Totally agree there! Can you tell me a
little of what your WiP is about?

I’ve just finished
writing my 3rd novel and I’m researching my 4th. I was born a miner’s daughter, lived through
the miners strikes and left school at an early age to find employment, so our
family could eat. I thought it would be a good idea to write a time-slip, going
back to the miners strikes, to the times when communities looked after each
other and then, in the present day part of the novel, show how things have changed.
I guess you could say that I‘m kind of going back to my roots.

Oh, and of course,
there will be romance, and suspense, and probably murder…. But you’ll have to
wait and see.

Can't wait! Where do you find
your inspiration? Is it always easy for you to come up with new
writing ideas?

My problem is that I
have too many ideas. I think I have some kind of ADHD, my brain never stops. I’m
a very active person, which is why I work full time, run a home and write
books. Just watching television on a night would drive me insane. I think I drive
my husband mad by waking up in the middle of the night, thinking up and writing
down future plots. Or I get up at stupid o’clock on a Saturday or Sunday
morning to write. You’ll often see me logging onto Facebook or checking Twitter
before six in the morning.

At the moment, I have
a possible 7 different books that I could start.

My inspiration comes
from life. I believe in romance, and in love, but I know from very personal
experience that life isn’t always that simple. I’ve had a very diverse life and
was married very young. My first husband was a narcissist, a very controlling
man who also suffered with autism. Nothing had a grey area with him and unless
you did things his way, he wasn’t happy and yes… I saw sense and eventually
left. But I did live through it for 3 years.

I am similar to you regarding ideas - my brain won't switch off either! And yes, life experience good and bad brings great inspiration. Which writers
influenced you the most?

Again, so many. I’ve
always loved so many genres and I think I’d miss someone out if I were to
choose. But I can say that I loved all of your books, especially the Stitch in
Time and the Cross Stitch, you can’t beat a bit of time travel. And what’s
more, I’m really looking forward to reading your new book, Summer in Tintagel.

Oh that's so kind. Thank you! Did you have a
dream to become a writer when you were little as I did?

I wanted to be an
author for as long as I can remember. My father was a strict man
and I would have to sit quietly for hours. Which is when I sat and wrote
stories. At the age of 14, my English teacher advised that I look for a job in
journalism, or followed my dream of being an author. But, just before leaving
school, I went to my careers advice officer and he asked me what I wanted to
do. I very proudly told him my ambitions and he rubbed his chin and said, “Have
you ever thought of being a shop assistant, I hear they’re taking on at Boots
the Chemist.” Hence to say, if I were to ever meet him again… I think I’d have
a word or two to say to him.

Indeed. And where do you see yourself in two years in terms of your writing career?

Well… I’d like to still be sat here
eating Cornish Cream Tea with you, but other than that, I’d like to think that
I could do something good. It would be amazing to win an award and to be called
an ‘award winning author’ or to sell so many books that I’d be able to put
‘best-selling author’ on the covers.

I’m very ambitious and if nothing else,
I already have my sights set on completing another couple of books in that
time.

And I'm sure you will achieve your aims too. Thanks so much for stopping by today and eating all the scones ... I mean sharing my Cream Tea! It has been lovely to chat! :)

Find out more about House of Secrets and Lynda below:

HOUSE OF SECRETS

Short Synopsis

A woman on the run, a broken man and a house with a
shocking secret …

Madeleine Frost has to get away. Her partner Liam has become
increasingly controlling to the point that Maddie fears for her safety, and that
of her young daughter Poppy.

Desperation leads Maddie to the hotel owned by her estranged father –
the extraordinarily beautiful Wrea Head Hall in
Yorkshire. There, she meets Christopher ‘Bandit’ Lawless, an ex-marine and the
gamekeeper of the hall, whose brusque manner conceals a painful past.

After discovering a diary belonging to a previous owner, Maddie and
Bandit find themselves immersed in the history of the old house, uncovering its
secrets, scandals, tragedies – and, all the while, becoming closer.

But Liam still won’t let go, he wants Maddie back, and when Liam wants
something he gets it, no matter who he hurts …

Lynda, is a wife, step-mother and grandmother, she grew up in the mining
village of Bentley, Doncaster, in South Yorkshire.

She is currently the Sales Director of a stationery, office supplies and
office furniture company in Doncaster, where she has worked for the past 25
years. Prior to this she’d also been a nurse, a model, an emergency first
response instructor and a PADI Scuba Diving Instructor … and yes, she was crazy
enough to dive in the sea with sharks, without a cage.Following a car accident in 2008, Lynda was left with limited mobility
in her right arm. Unable to dive or teach anymore, she turned to her love of
writing, a hobby she’d followed avidly since being a teenager.

Her own life story, along with varied career choices helps Lynda to
create stories of romantic suspense, with challenging and unpredictable plots,
along with (as in all romances) very happy endings.

Lynda joined the Romantic Novelist Association in 2014 under the
umbrella of the New Writers Scheme and in 2015, her debut novel House of
Secrets won the Choc Lit & Whole Story Audiobooks Search for a Star
competition.

She lives in a small rural hamlet near Doncaster, with her ‘hero at home
husband’, Haydn, whom she’s been happily married to for over 20 years.